Danny Cipriani learned to cook his favourite chicken wings

Rugby star Danny Cipriani learned to cook chicken wings – a meal he usually only eats in Nando’s – and thought the result was even better than the chicken restaurant chain’s version.

Danny Cipriani & Jon de Villa

Wasps’ fly-half Cipriani loves Chicken Adobo so we gave him a masterclass with New Kitchen chef Jon de Villa of Yuu Kitchen so he could try making it for himself.

Yuu Kitchen Chicken Wings

“I’m very excited to try this,” said Cipriani in an exclusive video for FUEL. “This is one of my favourites dishes to eat, but I always eat it out, whether it be Nando’s or KFC – I know it’s obviously not ideal – on my cheat days.”

Johnny got him started on the dish: “The sauce that we’re making is Adobo sauce, which is the national dish of the Philippines. This goes very well with brown rice or steamed rice and vegetables. It’s very, very moreish.”

Danny Cipriani

Cipriani was ready to get stuck in: “I’m excited to try this. Let’s act like it’s a Sunday and it’s my cheat day.”

As he tasted the finished dish, his verdict was: “That’s very good. Better than Nando’s!”

METHOD
Marinate the wings in ginger and sake for 2 hours, simmer for 20 min and leave to chill until cold.

Adobo sauce: in a pan place sugar, water, soy sauce and dissolve sugar. Add the rest of the ingredients and infuse. Leave overnight. When ready to use strain in a sieve put in a pot and heat up. Place over a medium heat and bring to the boil. Add potato starch with water to dissolve. Whisk in the adobo sauce.

Take wings out and put in a bowl add potato starch, lightly coat wings and place in deep fryer for about 5 to 6 minutes until they are crispy, place in bowl with sauce and toss till the wings are coated. Strain the wings, put on plate and garnish with sesame seeds and spring onion. If you don’t have a deep fryer you can use a large pan or wok.